The right way to save lives

Construction worker Juan Chonillo’s tragic death plunge from the 29th story of a downtown condo tower Thursday demands meticulous investigation from federal and city authorities — and a redoubled commitment to enforce existing safety rules. So does the tumble from a high lift near Hudson Yards that killed one hardhat and severely injured a second the same day.

What the deaths do not do is justify the raft of new training requirements the City Council and Mayor de Blasio are eager to pile atop the industry — regulations that do not home in on specific dangers workers face, but impose sweeping new mandates sought by unions angling to preserve jobs.

Early reports on this week’s fatalities, the latest in a too-long string of deaths, suggest that all had been wearing safety harnesses — yet that none were hitched to anchors when they fell. Investigators must determine why not. They must confirm whether the workers had undergone an already mandatory 10 hours of training that includes the proper use of those harnesses and other fall protection.

They must also get to the bottom of whatever actions beyond the workers’ control may have precipitated their falls.

Answers can save lives, as evidenced by research conducted by the city’s Department of Health, which scrutinizes construction fatalities to prevent more from happening.

Its latest study, released in July, found that falls are the number-one killer on construction sites, accounting for 58% of the total. And that 90% of fatalities involved violations of existing rules, such as a failure to properly deploy guardrails, harnesses and other safety equipment.

Another common denominator in construction deaths: contractors often ignored their ironclad obligations under federal law to train workers for their duties.

Hence the Health Department recommends workers confidentially report unsafe conditions to 311 and to the feds, triggering inspections correcting dangerous conditions. The Department of Buildings last year stiffened fines and hired 100 inspectors to crack down on unsafe sites.

Paying little heed to those important findings and recommendations, the Council is eager instead to sweepingly mandate up to 55 hours of classroom safety training, covering topics ranging from sidewalk sheds to chemicals, that in practice would apply only to non-union workers. De Blasio commits to spend millions of dollars on training, offering no sum for enforcement.

With deepest sympathy for the construction workers whose lives have been lost and the thousands more whose lives may be at risk: This remains the wrong solution to a real problem.